About This Artwork
Barber Shop (1936)2006
Chromogenic transparency and lightbox
58.9 x 71.1 cm (image); 24 x 30 in. (lightbox)
Restricted gift of Danielle and Martin E. Zimmerman, 2007.237
Sourcing images from art, books, and magazines, as well as television and the Internet, Kota Ezawa explores history as a repository of iconic but imprecisely remembered images and forms. For this work, the artist used graphics software to transform a classic 1936 Walker Evans photograph, Negro Barber Shop Interior, Atlanta, into a silhouette of shapes and colors. The lightbox–a familiar trope of advertising displays at airports, bus stops, and train terminals–suggests the transformation of this 1930s photograph into a format from contemporary life.
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
AIC, "On the Scene: Kota Ezawa, Sarah Hobbs, Angela Strassheim," May 19–September 3, 2007. (Katherine A. Bussard)